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How 'global' was the Hellenistic world? - Coggle Diagram
How 'global' was the Hellenistic world?
Intro
it was not global in the modern sense of the world, but it certainly had globalising tendencies, which can be surveyed through the movement of peoples, trade, and religion.
these globalising tendencies were not uniform across the Hellenistic world, and so global participation was uneven and often favoured the elite
elites/individuals
Agathocles of Syracuse represents a king with 'global' reach and aspirations, as he campaigned in Africa (Dio, bk. 20), his daughter Lannasa travelled for mariages through Epirus and Macedonia, and he took the title of King only after hearing that other 'successors' had done so
this demonstrates that he was aware of 'global' happenings, and that there was a shared understanding of kingship even in such disparate territories
the site of Ai Khanoum is a valuable case study into the broad movement of certain individuals in the Hellenistic world, who could import cultural mores along with them
Clearchus of Soli, on Cyprus, was a travelling philosopher, who bought the maxims of the Seven Sages from Delphi to Ai Khanoum, displayed there at the tomb of Kineas
this represents a singular person who travelled broadly, but also shows how the Greek maxims may have appealed to a native audience in Ai Khanoum, forming a shared 'global' culture
but these are all individuals, and elite ones at that. some non-elites were affected by the globalising tendencies also
non-elites
epitaphs from Phrygia show persons from Macedonia that had settled and died very far from home
the epitaph of a woman called Demetria, juxtaposed with the native Phrygian script used, demonstrates the varied lives that individuals could lead as a result of global travel. c. 300BC
moreover, the Hellenistic world was predicated on the broad movements of mercenary armies, vast swathes of people that moved very far from home
a Theocritan idyll praises Ptolemy for being the ideal employer for soldiers from the Greek world, resulting in a huge population boom in Alexandria
even non-elite peoples contributed to the globalisation of the Hellenistic world, and felt the effects of it.
Economy
coinage was universalised, with standard types like the Alexander-type tetradrachm, with Herakles on the obverse and Zeus on the reverse, struck from Macedonia to Bactria
the movement of coins allowed a shared visual language and thus interconnectedness between different parts of the Hellenistic world
different regions could alter the standard to appeal to their diverse subjects, thus aiding globalisation by facilitating uniform comprehension - bilingual coinage in Indo-Greek territories
moreover, trade routes signal the globalisation of the economy, as the transport of goods symbolically drew disparate regions closer together
RO 96, a grain list from Cyrene c. 330-320 shows that grain was imported to a number of places from Cyrene, including to the Athenians, the Megarians, and the Ambraciotes
therefore we see an interconnectedness through the uniform understanding of coinage, and the shared goods through trade
However
connectivity was not perfect, travel from Ephesus to Susa may still take three months (owing to Herodotus' calculations)
this meant that information could also take a long time to travel, when Attalus died in September of 134BC, the Romans did not receive the text of his will until Spring of 133BC, demonstrating the vast distance that the Hellenistic world covered
as such, the Hellenistic world was still fragmented, and could not be a truly unified globe
this can be represented by the enduring reverence paid to Athens in the Hellenistic period, despite the development of new capitals like Pergamum and Antioch and Alexandria
Hellenistic rulers continuously dedicated to Athens, such as Eumenes II with his stoa on the southern slopes of the Acropolis
such priority paid to one place does not suggest globalisation
however, that we have foreign rulers conjoining to beautify athens demonstrates shared interests, and the insertion of Pergamene architecture into athens also shortens the distance between these two capitals
therefore the enduring power of Athens could still be seen as a facet of globalisation, as the multi-cultural hellenistic world conjoined sometimes in one place, showing interconnectedness
Conclusion
it was not 'global' in the sense of full integration or even participation
Greek language was still preferred for diplomacy, and some elements of 'Greekness' were deployed as a facade for ease: Sidonian officials adopted Greek titles but retained Semitic customs
so the globalising tendencies were sometimes selective
but there were some shared material standards, such as in coinage and urban architecture
so that, for the first time in history, greek, babylonian, iranian, egyptian elites all participated in a loosely shared symbolic and economic system